1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices used to quickly position electrical junction boxes on wall studs prior to wall cover installation during building construction and hold such boxes in proper position while being secured to a stud.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrical junction boxes are used in building construction to provide enclosed junctions for electrical power outlets, switches and the like and are conventionally permanently installed on the stud walls of a space in a building under construction. Typically, the electrical junction boxes are designed to allow electrical power wires passing through the walls to connect with a structure mounted in or on a wall. For example, electrical junction boxes are designed to provide a rigid and stationary housing for electrical junctions such as where electrical receptacles, control switches, and the like which, are connected to electrical wires and where there is normally exposed some uninsulated or dangerous circuit wiring at the connections.
To maintain a durable, stationary, and safe space in the wall for housing electrical junctions, most modern electrical codes require electrical junction boxes of the type described herein and such boxes are typically securely fastened to a wall stud in the wall prior to installing a wall surface during construction. Furthermore, local ordinances may require a uniform vertical positioning of the electrical outlet boxes on wall studs relative to the floor, although it is best to have such a uniform positioning for aesthetic purposes even if not required.
In order to provide such a uniform vertical spacing, construction workers conventionally must take time to measure and mark on each stud the proper location for the electrical junction box. In addition, under conventional construction techniques, the electrical junction box has to be manually held in position without any means to prevent sliding on a relatively smooth stud, while attempting to pound anchoring nails that are inserted through slots in the electrical junction box into the stud. Although the boxes are normally marked or etched along stud facing surfaces to provide the electrician installing the box with guidelines to indicate varying depths or horizontal positioning so as to allow the electrician to position the box for the thickness of the wall covering being used (for example, 1/2" (gypsum board), there is normally nothing stable backing the box to prevent horizontal or vertical sliding along the stud, when the electrician is driving the nails and this often results in the face of the box being installed at an angle with respect to vertical or at an incorrect depth.
Alternatively, the electrician may take great pains to ensure the box is correctly aligned while driving the nails, but this results in substantially more time being required to complete the job. In any event, the prior construction procedures either result in inaccurate box positioning or require substantial additional time for careful measurement and often results in nonuniformly positioned electrical outlet boxes. If the position is too inaccurate or the box is too tilted, additional time must be devoted to the removal and reinstallation of the electrical outlet box at a proper position.